Five AI Firms Target $5 Deepfake Threat as Voice-Fraud Attempts Jump 1,300%
Updated
Updated · SF Weekly · Jun 15
Five AI Firms Target $5 Deepfake Threat as Voice-Fraud Attempts Jump 1,300%
3 articles · Updated · SF Weekly · Jun 15
Summary
$5 is now enough to create a convincing deepfake, McAfee Labs said, while scam texts nearly quadrupled between February and March 2025 and Americans receive about 14 scam messages a day.
Five companies highlighted in the report are building defenses across that attack chain—from identity checks to fraud detection, governed enterprise AI and crisis-response training—as cheap synthetic media scales impersonation and manipulation.
Incode says its Deepsight verifies users in under 100 milliseconds, passed iBeta Level 3 presentation-attack testing with a 0% error rate on iOS and Android, and is used by eight of the 10 largest U.S. banks.
Pindrop reported a 1,300% surge in deepfake fraud attempts against contact centers in 2024, underscoring demand for tools such as Quantexa’s AML platform, which says it cuts false positives 75% and speeds investigations 80%.
The broader shift is toward AI systems that are explainable, auditable and domain-specific, as enterprises and public agencies race to deploy defenses fast enough to match falling attack costs.